Before this match, Mumbai Indians had never been beaten at the Chinnaswamy Stadium by Royal Challengers Bangalore. And the record remained intact due to a spectacular match-winning partnership between Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard’s, their swashbucklings knocks and their unbroken 122-run sixth-wicket partnership to stage a dramatic fightback and beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match.
Yet another last over victory for Mumbai Indians
Rayudu smashed an unbeaten 81 off 54 balls while Pollard remained not out on 52 off 31 as Mumbai Indians chased down the target of 172 with two balls to spare after staring down the barrel at 51 for five in the ninth over. Pollard smashed Gayle for six and two fours to seal the match for Mumbai and keep their chances of qualifying for the playoffs alive. Pollard and Rayudu hit nine runs in the penultimate over off Zaheer, leaving Mumbai to score 14 in last over.
The nightmare of not getting good starts haunted MI yet again when they lost three early wickets by the fourth over. Mumbai Indians got off to a bad start as Tendulkar was dismissed in the first over for a first ball duck. Zaheer Khan, who seems to be peaking at the right time for RCB, had the batsman caught by Virat Kohli at short cover point. There was a short cover put in place for Tendulkar and the Little Master played one shot straight into the hands of Virat Kohli. Hershelle Gibbs run out and last match hero Rohit Sharma too perished for just 5 and Mumbai slumped to 51/5 in no time.
There was a hindrance in the game in the 11th over as the one of the light towers went off. Just before this over, Pollard was back in some form as he clobbered Appanna for two consecutive sixes off the last two balls of his first over. The break however did not hamper the momentum of Pollard who stunned the home team with his big blows in the last over which also sealed the victory for Mumbai Indians.
Earlier, a good knock by Tilakaratne Dilshan after early wickets and late surge by Mayank Agarwal powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a challenging 171/6. Mayank Agarwal produced a blistering 30-ball 64 and smashed Munaf Patel for 24 runs in the innings’ last over, which included two sixes and as many fours. In all, he hit six fours and four sixes after the hosts lost most of their big guns, including Chris Gayle and A B de Villiers cheaply. Mayank came out to bat when RCB were precariously placed, having lost four wickets with less than 100 on the board. RCB posted their 100 in the 15th over. With two overs to go, at 134 for 6, they would have settled for 150, but Agarwal closed off the innings with a sequence of 4, 6, 1 (to retain strike), 6, 4, 4, 2, 6, and 2.
It wasn’t enough, though, as Mumbai Indians completed their fourth final-over chase of the season, snapping Royal Challengers three-game winning run. With this emphatic victory, Mumbai reached to the second spot in the points table with 18 points. The Royal Challengers Bangalore moved down to the fifth spot and the loss today has reduced their chances of making to the playoffs.
Tags: Ambati Rayudu, Cricket, Indian Premier League, IPL, Kieron Pollard, MI, Mumbai Indians, RCB, Royal Challengers Bangalore
